No senior citizens were harmed in the making of this newsletter.
First, thank you to Debbie D. my first subscriber. Thank you again for your support via ko-fi too. Take a look at The Dog Ladys Den, her newsletter and consider giving her a tip.
I’m going to plan to post newsletters here every Friday, including today. Picking and sticking to a posting schedule helps a lot. Previously I wrote a daily site for web writers, WordGrrls. I kept it going with writing inspiration, exercises, and ideas every day until I burnt out. Weekly posting is enough. It gives me time to research and dig around for interesting or unknown this and that to post.
This Friday has started with me pushing my 82 year old Mother into the pool. Not literally, just trying to get her to go to the local public pool for a swim. Neither of us are great exercisers. My Grandmother did much better. She went swimming until she really couldn’t any more.
How has your Friday started out?
Please help me, support my fondness for groceries and the occasional new print book.
Canadian Inspiration
If this were your last day in Canada, what would you want to do?
#ThisIsWho
Canadian People
If you grew up in the range of CTV in Toronto during the 1970s… You might remember ‘The Trouble with Tracy’ an afternoon TV show. The stars were Steve Weston and Diane Nyland. I liked it. It was silly and simple. People like to say it was the worst show ever. It wasn’t.
Doug and Tracy Young were a young married couple making a life together. Doug had a job and Tracy had hobbies, ideas, and a knack for misunderstandings and misadventures. Doug was the loving and not so much suffering husband. Like a lot of Canadian TV, it was on a budget, looking to cut costs. Most of the show (if not all) was filmed in the main room of the apartment they lived in. I always thought it was in Toronto.
Both actors are deceased now. Diane Nyland (1944 – 2014) but Steve Weston (1940 – 1985) died fairly young, he fell from a roof. Did you know Diane was a choreographer and worked with the National Ballet of Canada? There was more to her than the cute blonde in a mini skirt image. Steve was a comedian and I remember him from a beer commercial too.
Canadian Places
Did you know Canada no longer keeps orcas for public display?
I remember the orca and beluga whales at Marineland, in Niagara Falls, Ontario. We have photos from a family trip to the Falls. It wasn’t the only place which kept captive orcas (and other animals) for human entertainment in Canada. But, it was the last. March, 2023, Kiska, died in Marineland and that was the last sad, captive orca here. I hope forever.
Canada has a place to give some space and care to retired whales and dolphins in Port Hilford Bay, Nova Scotia – The Whale Sanctuary Project. You can see a virtual tour of the location. The site also has a FAQ, a video documentary, and reports about the work they are doing, including outside of Canada.
Don’t think I am bashing Marineland, or the others like it. I don’t see that as constructive. People (we) made a mistake, learned from it, and are working to fix or make things better. As far as I know, the Project on the coast of Nova Scotia is the first in Canada. Maybe it will lead to another sanctuary on the west coast, some day. Of course, they accept donations if you would like to help.
July 14th is World Orca Day.
Canadian Things
The plastic garbage bag was invented by Canadians.
In 1950, Harry Wasylyk (from Winnipeg, Manitoba) and Larry Hansen (from Lindsay, Ontario) invented a disposable green polyethylene garbage bag intended for commercial use. At first there were sold to the Winnipeg Hospital. Using them for residential garbage came long later.
A Toronto man, Frank Plomp, invented a plastic garbage bag in 1950 as well but it didn’t catch on. Maybe he didn’t try to sell it, or just not enough.
With so much plastic in our environment now… Still what would we do if there were no plastic bags and only paper bags for everything? A lot of liquid mess would need cleaning up. Maybe someone will come up with the next great idea in garbage bags which are strong, don’t leak (usually), and don’t end up floating in the ocean, or otherwise being an environmental problem.
This is reposted from my website.
One Last Thing… A Canadian Link or Two
Posted from Old Canada Series on Facebook, the late night, end of service, send off from CBC in the 1980’s.
Jane’s Walk Festival – May 1st to the 3rd – A free, community-led walking conversations inspired by Jane Jacobs, a journalist, author, theorist, activist, and proud Torontonian.
Found on Substack:
Adam Bunch – The Toronto Time Traveller
Bob Georgiou – Toronto History Curiosities
Craig Rourke – Pinecone Diaries: Canada’s Stories & History
Three Minute History Canada (coming soon).